Page 22 of Destined for Eternity
Chapter 9
Cori
Cori and dozens of others stood in the yard at the nerou compound. It was a sunny day and had gotten about as warm as it would get at two in the afternoon. The interior of Alaska stayed cool in the spring with high temperatures averaging in the upper forties, but everyone there was used to far colder weather. To them, this was a great day to start training.
Bartol wasn’t the only one who would learn how to track demons. The nerou were being given lessons, along with Cori since she’d shown some aptitude for it at the bank a couple of days before. Melena was there as well.
Raguel had spent the last twenty-four hours recovering and regaining some of his strength. He still appeared pale, and his movements were slow, but he looked better than when he first arrived. Right then, he motioned for them to spread out in a wide circle and get into meditation poses. The archangel took a seat at the center. He guided them through a series of breathing exercises that would help them find their inner source of power.
“Search deep within yourselves,” Raguel said in a deep, low voice.
Cori closed her eyes and felt her baby kick. She had no idea how she was going to concentrate. Her mind raced a mile a minute these days with preparations for becoming a mother. She wanted to succeed at this training, but it wasn’t easy while pregnant.
“Send your senses out as far as you can make them go,” Raguel continued. “Ignore the barrier and push past it.”
In another life, he could have totally been a yoga instructor.
Next to Cori, Melena gasped. She opened her eyes and glanced over at her friend. The sensor was staring off in the distance, past the compound fence, and into the woods. Something was out there and the person with the strongest abilities of them all had found it. Following Melena’s example and the direction she looked, Cori gritted her teeth. If something were out there, she would find it as well. Pregnant or not, she needed to know how to sense demons from afar if she wanted to protect herself and her baby from them—or at least to know when to run.
She forced all other thoughts from her mind and focused. A dark, niggling sensation touched her mind. She couldn’t quite grasp it, but something was definitely out there. Raguel continued his instructions, and she listened to them closely. Seeing auras had been easy since ingesting Melena’s blood, but detecting people out of sight was much harder. In the past few months, the most she’d managed was finding traces of supernatural signatures within a couple of dozen feet. This test was much farther.
Breathing in and out, she relaxed her body and focused her search along the route where Melena had been staring. Cori found that easier than when she had to push her abilities in all directions. Almost like a bumble bee flying along a path, she eventually found her target.
Tormod was out there, perhaps a hundred or so feet away. They’d allowed him to participate in this? As far as she knew, they’d been keeping him separated from others. They’d had to give him his own trailer to sleep in at night at the compound, rather than staying with the others in the dorms, and he ate at a table by himself in the dining facility. Bartol had been working with Tormod and mentioned that he was showing more signs of life. The nerou had even begun holding short conversations, but her mate said the nerou wasn’t back to normal yet.
At least with this exercise, Tormod didn’t have to do much other than stand in the woods. Maybe that was why he was allowed to be involved. They needed someone with demon blood in which to practice tracking, and he was the safest option while just starting to learn. He might have still been a little off, but he hadn’t hurt anyone recently. Still, Cori hated that they had to bother him now when he really wasn’t ready to be back out in the world.
She turned to Melena with a questioning look, not wanting to voice her thoughts and ruin the surprise for the others. In this group, even a whisper could be heard by everyone. The sensor gave her a faint smile and shrug.
“Raise your hand if you detected the demon,” Raguel instructed.
Cori and Melena lifted theirs, along with half the nerou. Bartol had his up as well, sitting at the opposite end of the circle. They were apart so that their mating bond wouldn’t distract them from training. When they were close together, it was harder to concentrate.
“You can come out now,” the archangel called.
Tormod and Micah stepped out of the woods, their tall, muscular forms slowly coming into view. Cori hadn’t sensed the nephilim with the nerou, but her abilities were still weak and she hadn’t been looking for him. It disappointed her that she was nowhere near the level of a full sensor, though. Would she ever get better?
When they reached the high-security fence, they disappeared in a flash of light. The magical warding was set to admit them both, so they didn’t need to come around to the front gate. Upon their reappearance at the edge of the circle, several nerou gasped. Tormod was definitely not the same lighthearted young man he’d once been, and it showed in his violet gaze. He still wore his brown hair in a shaggy cut, and his clothes reflected someone who was only in their early twenties with just jeans and a loose t-shirt, but his expression reflected someone much older and jaded. Not a hint of humor glimmered in his eyes like it once did.
He crossed his arms and glared at the students who hadn’t raised their hands. “Try harder next time.”
His voice was cold.
Cori rose to her feet and started heading toward him. “How are you, Tormod?”
She hadn’t seen him in months. Everyone said it was best she stay away until he’d recovered more since he’d not responded well to visitors. There’d been violent outbursts in the beginning, followed by frigid silence, and then grim tolerance of those he saw on a daily basis. Tormod didn’t seem to want to be around anyone if he could help it. Even with Emily, Melena’s adopted daughter, the nerou had told her to stay away. It had broken the teenager’s heart.
“Fine.” He glanced down at her growing belly, lips twitching as if he fought a smile. “I see the baby will be coming soon.”
“Yes.”
He ducked his head and balled his fists. “You should keep it away from me.”
A lump formed in her throat. She’d caught that small sign of the old Tormod, but it had only lasted a moment. “Why?”
“I’m not safe to be around.”
“You can’t control yourself?” Other than being a little stiff, he seemed fine so far.
